Im new to this forum. so a newby hello is in order. I am however no stranger to Fords as i was raised around Fords all my life.

Here is the situation. My buddy just bought a 1992 F-150 5.0. I want to get him around 250hp. A vast improvement over 185hp. Now i know this can be easily done with a 5.0 but id like to do a salvage yard project, so as to keep cost down.

I need input as to if im headed in the right direction.
I want to find a 5.0 explorer donor to get the GT-40p heads, Cobra style intake and MAF harness. Then i want to find a stock Mustang 5.0 cam, fortunately the 5.0 Mustang and Explorer have the same (13726548) Im thinking that will make the harness swap easy. Then long tube headers from Flowtech are big enough to adapt to the offset Explorer exhaust holes and are about $150.

Now i am also very experienced with porting and polishing, so i plan on port matching, polishing and getting rid of those exhaust bumps. And if i really want to get a little more out of the set up ill toss on a 70mm throttle body.

Now with that said, am i headed in the right direction for 250hp or is there a more effective way? And is this set up going to be a mismatch in any way? All in all i think im going to shoot to keep the project under $750.

Thanks,
Robert

Another thought i had was that the intake manifold off of the explorer might cause a lack of torque but when i look at my list what im trying to do is make an Explorer engine with long tube headers, a port and polish job and a mustang cam. But i think its that F-150 intake manifold that makes that fat torque so i might try to just keep the stock upper and lower.

302 comparison
Explorer-204hp/250tq
F-150-185hp/270tq
F-150 w/MAF-205hp/275tq

 

The Mustang cam may not be the best choice in a truck. Too much difference in vehicle weight. It will make the power you want but won't have the midrange you need. Look at the Crane 2030. With ported GT-40 heads, 24# injectors, a re-programmed PCM, headers and the Cobra manifold from the Exploder you should easily exceed 250.

 

port match the "exploder" heads and intake with the cam mentioned above (plus long tubes) and the supporting P&P work you'll see your goal

 

Well the stock tappet style cam in the 302 F-150 is:
Duration at .050 in.: 210 / 211
Gross valve lift: 0.421 / 0.447
Lobe separation: 116°

Where as the 302 HO roller cam is:
Advertised Duration: 276 / 266
Duration at .050 in.: 214 / 210
Gross valve lift: 0.444 / 0.444
Lobe separation: 115°

Crane Cams 2030 cam is:
Duration @ .050" lift: 216/220 (int/exh)
Valve lift: .533"/.544" (int/exh)

Ford Racing E303 cam is:
Advertised Duration: 282/282
Duration @.050: 220/220
Valve Lift: .498"/.498"
Lobe Sep: 110

So the HO cam is a very mile drivable upgrade. The E303 is the next step. And that CC cam mentioned has more lift than im comfortable with. We are not turning this thing into a fast truck, i just want to get more power and torque while keeping driveability. The long duration with not so much lift on that E303 cam would be ideal for torque. But the HO cam just barely gives the 302 a little more air on the intake side and with p/p GT-40p heads i think that will keep it quiet and still make good power. Thats just my thoughts on how i arrived at my goodie list.

 

The Ford HO cam only makes 225 HP or so in a Mustang. 25 more may be hard to come by and it may be in the wrong RPM range.

The E303 is a just Crane 2040 in a different box. The 2040 is the HP cam for a 302, the 2030 is the midrange cam. The 2040 needs to pull 3.55s or better to work with 25" tires in a 3000 lb. Mustang; it would need a lot more gear than that in a 4500 lb or more truck with 29" tires. I wouldn't worry about the lift, just use the valvetrain components Crane recommends.

My Mustang with a 2030, GT-40 iron heads, GT-40 intake and T/B, Corba PCM with 24# injectors, shorty headers etc. dynoed at 270 RWHP @ 5100. Torque peak was 320 @ 3800. Both of those numbers would occur at least 500 RPM higher with a 2040. Torque was above 300 from 3100-4700, I doubt that the 2040 will ever produce that wide a power band

 

So basically youve got a 93 Cobra with exhaust and a cam. And i am unsure why guys upgrade their injectors so fast. My 2000 Mustang GT has 19lb injectors and it comes with 260 stock. And i know guys go into the 300s with the stock 19lb injector. So why the upgrade?

 

270 RWHP is approx 310-320 flywheel HP. At .50 BSFC and 90% duty cycle 19# units are good to about 275 HP. You have to push the duty cycle or the BSFC pretty hard to get beyond 300 with 19s. The Ford Racing Cobra processor is programmed for 24s which are good to about 345 HP (at .50 and 90%) which is where I am now with some further upgrades

 

Do you think it posible to do gt-40p heads, HO cam, LT headers without doing a MAF swap. I know the 5.0 F-150s went from 185hp to 205hp just from Ford puting a MAF system on, but im thinking in terms of doing the top end now and then later doing the wire work. Of course it might be easier to do the MAF swap without the F-150 upper sittting there to block the pass. side injectors.

thoughts

 

1fastang - Sounds like you know your 5.0's. Just make sure you have a set of headers that will work with those P heads.

I can't PM ya, so I'll mention this here:
I have a new set of P heads if you want to make me an offer. I was going to ebay them anyway. They incorrectly came on my crate engine, and I made the builder ship me a new set of non-P heads. These P's have been waiting for a happy home since then.

yooooojr at hotmail

 

Ive already found a set of P heads at a salvage yard that charges $60 for a pair of iron heads no matter what they come off of. And $30 for intake manifolds. I plan on cleaning up the exlporer intake and selling it to help project cost.

And my solution to the offset bolts holes on the P head is simple. The Flowtech long tube headers from Advanced Auto parts have a 1.5" primaries and a 2.5" collector. The big primaries will fit over the whole thing. Plus the P heads need more material removed from the roof on the exhaust side, so it will actually put the header a little upward into a bit of a flowing sweet spot.